Remembering LALITA PAWAR-The Leading Actress of Silent Era of Bollywood
Born Amba Laxman Rao Sagun on 18 April 1916, into an orthodox family in Yeola in Nashik,Lalita Pawar started her acting career at age nine in the film, Raja Harishchandra (1928), and later went on to play lead roles in silent era and 1940's films.
She changed her name to Lalita and in the 1930s acted in a series of successful daredevil silent films like Himmat-e-Mard ("A Brave Man"), Chevorlet and Captain Kishore..
LALITA PAWAR played the squint-eyed, scheming and vitriolic mother- in-law to perfection in scores of Indian films in an acting career that spanned nearly 60 years in Bollywood appearing in over 700 films.She was not a born squint in fact she became squint eyed in an accident while shooting in a film.
In 1942, as a part of a scene in the movie Jung-E-Azadi, actor Master Bhagwan was to slap her hard. Being a new actor, he accidentally slapped her very hard, which resulted in facial paralysis and a burst left eye vein. Three years of treatment later, she was left with a defective left eye; thus she had to abandon lead roles
She later became famous as a character actress, in Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati cinema.Her other memorable roles were in film, Anari (1959), Shri 420 and Mr & Mrs 55, and the role of Manthara, in Ramanand Sagar's television epic serial, Ramayan
She was given Best Supporting Actress Filmfare Award for Anari 1959,She was also given the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Acting in 1961.She was a powerful performer met a sad and lonesome end.Her death was unnoticed for two days when her family was in Mumbai for her husband's throat surgery.She died on 24 February 1998 in Aundh, Pune, where she had been staying, for a while.
Song from Gharana
Scene from Anari
Scene from Shri 420
Scene from Mr & Mrs 55